Legislative Victory: Fair Probation Drug Testing (SB 1886) Signed into Law!

We are thrilled to announce that SB 1886, the Fair Probation Drug Testing bill sponsored by Illinois State Senator Robert Peters and Representative Lilian Jiménez, has been signed into law by Governor Pritzker! Blanket drug testing doesn’t help people who are on probation succeed. Research shows...
July 31, 2023

Prison Reform Advocates Call to End Civil Commitment in Illinois

A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) focusing on U.S. systems of confinement calls for the end of civil commitment. Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts supports this call. In Illinois, for example, the Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities are overseen by the John...
June 14, 2023

Principles for Earned Release Sentencing Reform In Illinois

The Collaboration for Justice of Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, along with a coalition of supporting organizations, have released an open letter to the Illinois Resentencing Task Force urging them to be guided by a set of shared principles for earned rel...
February 3, 2022

NAACP President and Staunch Conservative Norquist Promote Prison Reform(!)

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and fierce anti-tax and conservative advocate Grover Norquist have been doing a media tour recently to debate prison reform. The surprise? They’re on the same side of the debate. Jealous and Norquist, who leads the fiscally ultra-conservative group Americans for Tax...
April 15, 2011